BNP Paribas Masters - Miryni- Bhupathi duo seizes Bercy title; qualifies for the year finale in London
Max Miryni and Mahesh Bhupathi successfully qualified for the season-ending finale in London by virtue of capturing their first team crown since 2004 with a two-setter win over Andy Ram and Mark Knowles at the BNP Paribas Masters Men’s doubles competition
on Sunday. The final match score was 7-5, 7-5.
The Belarusian-Indian pair reunited in 2010, after grabbing seven tour-level trophies together from 2002 to 2004 and have compiled strong results which also assured their qualification at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, starting later this month in London.
Seeded number six to win the title in Bercy, Miryni and Mahesh were playing in their fifth ATP World Tour final of the year after runner up finishes at the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournaments in Cincinnati, Monte-Carlo, Miami and lastly in Valencia just
a week ago.
They broke serve during the twelfth game to take a one set lead and blasted back from a break down in the second set before breaking decisively in the twelfth game again to clinch win in the end. The match was stretched to a time period of eighty nine minutes.
“Having previously played in five finals, especially our previous one in Valencia where I thought we fought really well, I am happy we were able to put ourselves in the similar situation again this week and have come one round further. Any victory provides
you confidence and we are glad that we are in London. A week ago we were still battling for the berth. Now that we are in there we are healthy, we are ready to go, we are going to enjoy it, play tough and see what happens,” reflected Miryni after his title
victory on Sunday.
The Indian tennis sensation, Mahesh on the other hand while commenting on their performance added, "Coming into this week it was a kind of a dog fight to qualify for the Finals, however with the way we played and we won; now I think we will go in as the
third seeds. So we are likely going to have a good showing there and finish the season strong."
One of the oldest contenders on the tour, Mahesh, 36, was competing in his third final at the concluding ATP World Tour Masters 1000 competition of the year and captured the crown on the second occasion, having previously won it along with his partner Leander
Paes back in 1998. The Indian pair also made their way into the final back in 2001.
The tour veteran as a result of this victory has improved to a career mark of 46-37 in the finals. He has lifted at least a single title in the last fourteen seasons in a row.
Bhupathi when asked about his overall experience this week in Bercy said that both of them enjoyed a great deal while playing here and every match was interesting and lifted their confidence level to great heights to eventually win the crown in the end.
The 33-year-old Max also grabbed his second crown in Bercy, having triumphed in his debut back in 2000 along with his partner Nicklas Kulti. He has won at least a single trophy each season since 1999.
Ram and Mark, on the other hand, were making their team debut and had defeated three seeded pairs on their way into the title battle, including the hot favourites Mike Bryan and Bob Bryan from the United States of America in the semi final round.
It was Mark’s second runner-up finish in Bercy, having previously lost out along with Daniel Nestor five years ago, while Ram was contesting in the final on the very first occasion in his career.
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